Aliette De Bodard - Scattered Along the River of Heaven

According to her this is "the pseudo-Asian SF story with bots, a dying colonial empire, and a prison orbiting a black hole–aka the one where I had to improvise four pseudo-Chinese poems before I could actually write any of the story’s scenes. " (her words, not mine), and she's been asking for feedback on this, either on Clarkesworld or on the World SF Blog.

The picture on the right is by the late Al Williamson, the winner of the 2010 Spectrum Grand Master Award.